Wednesday, September 30, 2009

WATERLOO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 09/30/09 -- Research In Motion has exciting news for Mac® users that want an easy and reliable solution that syncs their contacts, calendar appointments, tasks and notes with their BlackBerry® smartphones.

A new version of the BlackBerry® Desktop Manager software has been developed specifically for Mac users. The new desktop software is scheduled to be available for free download from www.blackberry.com/mac on Friday, October 2 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

The wireless charging is handled elegantly enough. An inductive pad that's built into a laptop stand can accomplish a full recharge in "about the same amount of time" as a standard-issue cabled charger, according to Dell.

While smartphone maker Palm has a similar (albeit smaller) wireless charging system for the Pre, and companies like Visteon and Wild Charge have debuted wireless charging accessories for phones, no PC maker has incorporated the idea until now.

Think about how YOU would be if you saw an advertisement in the paper for a car you wanted.

Call - Keep calling. You call at a time when it's convenient for YOU, not really bothered about the other guy, but whatever - lets chuck that, for now.

You ask questions, which seem valid to YOU. For the other guy however, they might be pointless queries - some answered in the ad itself (if not all).

If all goes well till this point, regardless of the fact that it was mentioned 'No Negotiation' - you will still ask 'last price?'

You want the seller to bring down the price even before you have actually seen the car!?!

Assuming that you are still interested, you go to see the car:

Call the guy up a couple of times to fix the time - and then change it (may be once or twice) and still end up showing 10-20 minutes late. God forbid if the seller reschedules or is late!

Not to mention - the number of times you called the seller to ask for directions to his house or the ground where the car is parked, landmarks bla bla bla.

The fact that you know jack-shit about a car's engine (other than where it's supposed to be) is irrelevant. You WILL ask him to pop the hood and will examine it like you are a professional mechanic who doesn't want to get his hands dirty today.

Then you will take a spin in the car and speak in YOUR mother tongue to the guy who was accompanying you on this 'exploration' - oblivious to the fact, how annoying this would be to the seller.

You will pick on the smallest of things - like a scratch or a patch on the body - and point it out to the seller as if he didn't already know that it was there - OR - you have DISCOVERED something he was probably trying to hide (psst, if you wanted a car without scratches or dents -wtf are looking at a used car for!!??)

Now all this is done:

You try to negotiate further.

You might close the deal OR you might want to think about it OR you and your friend might want to show it to your mechanic OR you might want to take it for computer testing.

May be the Seller wants to see if he can get a better price for his junk (what an idiot, right?).

YOU are doing all this this is just one guy. NOW think - the seller might have to deal with the same shit with 10-15 more idiots, err sorry - Car experts.

An employee of the Rocky Mountain Bank sends confidential details via email, to the wrong email ID. The bank then sent another email to the un-intended recipient, but didn't get any response.

Freaking out after the cock up, the bank decides to sue Google (it was a Gmail account), when Google (rightly) refuses to give out details of the account holder.

Not only does the bank sue Google, but also files a motion with the court to keep the law suit a secret!?! Which was sensibly denied by Judge Ronald Whyte. But he was acting on behalf of Judge James Ware(the idiot referred to in the title) - who was probably on vacation at the time, where - in all likelihood, he would have hit his head really hard because what he did after he took over the case was -

Ordered Google to shutdown the email account!!

I understand that the information conveyed was of personal/sensitive nature, but the one who should be penalised for this is the bank employee who sent out the email in the first place.

Not only did he send the attachment to the wrong email ID, he didn't even bother to make the attached file password protected(I am sure it would have been emphasised by the bank if the file was password protected, to save whatever is left of it's reputation).

Hell, even the E-statements I receive from banks (via Email) like Axis Bank, CitiBank etc are password protected. The password is usually a combination of my name with something like the year of my birth or some characters from my username combined with characters from my last name and my DOB! (they keep switching the combinations)

It’s old news, but I just found out about it today. Wonder how easy/difficult it will be to secure the gold inside the machine, but I do like the concept. Vending machine with automatic price updates every couple of minutes. Not bad.

One thing I couldn’t understand was, the article says that the price is 30% higher than market price. That’s a considerable difference.

There is more than one reason why this paedophile shouldn’t ever be released on parole. If they can’t bring in new charges for possession of child porn, they can definitely charge him for being super stupid. I know, Stupidity isn't punishable by law - but it really should be.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Saw this at City Centre, today. I hate going there. I prefer Sultan Centre, but then, folks.. ah well, shit happens. Kabhi kabhi, karna padhta hai. Anyways, saw this lying there and I was like – NO WAY! WTF!!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Do you want to unleash the full power of your smartphone and reduce or eliminate the need to carry a laptop? The REDFLY Mobile Companion links to your smartphone via a USB cable or wireless Bluetooth connection and extends the Windows Mobile interface to a more convenient and capable environment. The REDFLY Mobile Companion comes in two models, the C7 and C8N.

Now, for the news that caught my attention:

“

SALT LAKE CITY - September 16, 2009 -Celio Corp, maker of the REDFLY Mobile Companion, has announced support for BlackBerry; giving RIM customers the ability to get the most out of their smartphones with a larger screen and keyboard. The BlackBerry solution will be available in mid-Q4 2009. The BlackBerry solution is offered free-of-charge for existing and new REDFLY Mobile Companion C8N and C7 owners.

In other words, you now have your BlackBerry on a bigger screen with a keyboard like one of those smaller netbooks.

What I can’t seem to get through my head is –

First they make the computers smaller and smaller and come up with handhelds publicising them as computers in your palm, insisting that they are capable of doing at least some (if not all) of the tasks that you need, to carry on about your business, while on the move.

i.e. – one doesn’t have to carry one’s laptop around all the time. Some things can be done with your handheld itself. Fair enough. A reasonably sized device that one can carry along. I get that part.

But NOW, they seem to be going the other way – Device (handheld) is too small to take full advantage of it’s features, so carry something bigger along with your device??

Err.. confused.

What is being suggested here?!? Buy something to make your cellphone feel and look more like a netbook!!?

This! After the industry has spent years trying to fit the features of laptop/netbook into your cellphone??!

Motorola has introduced an enterprise PDA with a few twists that update the traditional rugged handheld format. The new device has a modular design allowing customers to swap out the wide area network (WAN) adapter, plus a motion sensor feature more commonly seen on consumer smartphones.

It’s 1:15 am. I honestly have no idea what the hell they are talking about. I would try to read it again, but the pic is extremely disturbing and the ‘phone’ is just too damn ugly for me to even bother with anything else.

There was this one thing that did catch my eye when I was trying to read:

“

more processing power and a game-changing approach to battery and backroom management — all in a lighter, sleeker and easier-to-use form factor.

Monday, September 14, 2009

This is going to be my mom’s next mobile phone. She sticks to the Nokia 8800 series. Looks classy. I personally think it’s a line of shiny mobiles that don’t do much, but then I have to admit - they do look classy. Besides, suits mom.

So far, nothing about Erdos on the official Nokia site or on GSM Arena (maybe it’s somewhere there, I just couldn’t find it), but Luxury Launches suggests that this will be out in October.

“

Nokia is hatching a new 8800 luxury handset that promises to woo its high-profile consumers. Dubbed, Erdos, this cell phone is shaped out of a single piece of bullet silver which is usually known as stainless steel. It stands out for its exclusively deigned keypad that oozes out as the slider slithers down.

Well, nothing THAT great, but it’s the auto popping (elevating/oozing…. whatever, take your pick) keypad that got me curious. Besides, like I mentioned earlier – as dumb the entire series is, it does look good. Given that I won’t be the one using it at all, and mom will be the one stuck with it, I don’t see a problem. She just needs a mobile phone. It doesn’t have to be an organizer or anything. Just a decent looking mobile that can make and receive calls.

It’s funny, no such quotes were included when a (more or less) similar headline was put up, on the same website in March 2009.

20-ft tunnel, Rs 2 crore to keep Kasab safe in Mumbai

I refuse to believe there wasn’t a single MP/MLA who thought the above was a waste of tax payer’s money OR that the same money could be better utilised. In fact, the quote included in THAT news story was -

“

“We are making all necessary arrangements for Kasab’s security. We have asked the Centre for their best commandoes so that his security is complete,” State Home Minister, Maharashtra, Jayant Patil said.

This is for the first time in India's history that Rs 2 crore is being spent on security for a terrorist. For the police, it is money well spent, keeping in mind the threat to Kasab’s life.

About the Credibility/Facts cited in the reports, I don’t think it’s a good idea to believe everything published in the media (be it Times or IBN). Both the stories are subject to challenge and I am confident, in time, both the stories will be refuted, denied, rubbished etc.

In this case, my concern is not the authenticity of the claims, but the difference in reporting similar issues. I mean, if one can spend money to protect a terrorist, I don’t see why there should be a problem in spending money to protect an ex-dictator. They aren’t that different.

Rejecting the argument that it was facing cash crunch, the Supreme Court on Monday warned the Kerala government that it would review the expenses incurred on ministers and MLAs if the state failed to pay arrears for 17 years to part-time teachers.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Not really my type of movie. It's good in (some) parts but crappy as a whole. Not to mention, its too long (2 Hrs, 20 Mins)!

Leslie Mann is crap and annoying as hell. I think people can't tell the difference between annoying and funny anymore.

Aubrey Plaza's character doesn't have any significance whatsoever. Don't really know why the character was penned in. Could have saved the ink and worked on the story a bit. With her out, it would have definitely brought down the running time.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Heard people talking about this new Himesh song, and they thought I should give it a try, because they think it's different and I would like it.

I have no idea what gave them that idea. The lyrics are stupid. Play the damn thing day and night on all music channels and the majority will start humming it. That's doesn't mean it's a good song!

Himesh's songs in 2008 - Listen to one, you have heard them all. Don't know why he feels proud that at any given time he has over a 100 tunes ready. Arrey, if all of them are going to sound the same, you might as well say you have a million tunes ready!!

I wouldn't be surprised if the rest of the songs coming out of Himesh's crappy mouth, during the rest of the year -sound exactly the same as this shit.

BTW, whoever came up with the video for this nonsense, didn't have to work too hard. Parts lifted off from Savage Garden's I Want You. From 1:11 time marker, it's a lift off from Savage Garden's video. Before that, pretty sure is a lift off too probably from some hip-hop / rap song.

So much fuss was made about Michael Jackson 'playing' with kids. Now, the kids get to play with Michael Jackson. Don't know how the parents are going to react to this, but I bet Barbie will definitely be upset.

Monday, September 7, 2009

The world of ebooks is about to start a new chapter with the arrival of the cheapest digital reader on the market. Asus, one of the world’s biggest consumer electronics businesses, confirmed last week that it is planning to shake up the market in the same way it did when it launched the first netbook — the low-cost alternative to the laptop.

If the renderings are to be taken seriously, I just have one question - Wouldn't it be easier to just get a book? Would definitely be easier to hold and wouldn't be a problem if you dropped it while carrying it around.

It's not like I am against E-Books or E-Book Readers. Most of the books I read are in the electronic format. It's just that, the purpose of E-Books was easy to store/share them online, right?

Now, how does an E-Reader help with that part? I can't understand why would anyone want to carry a Kindle or a Dual Screen Reader crap to just read a book when they are on a plane or whatever. It's a hell lot easier to carry a bloody book!

If you are a tech junkie, then you most definitely have your laptop in that back pack of yours and you can read your E-Book on your HP Tablet or your Mac or your Asus Eee PC. Why do you want to carry a Kindle or another E-Reader!

Don't know what this idiot was trying to get at, but that statement doesn't make any sense. No wonder I don't like his books, he is a lousy writer (The only one I enjoyed reading was Five Point Someone, and that was it).

Saturday, September 5, 2009

My cousin is travelling to India and he has his own set of quirks. He wanted to take a new mobile for the trip and I couldn’t suggest anything sensible, simply because there isn’t anything in the market right now, that I find worthy of my attention.

But, like I said, he has his quirks, and there was absolutely no point in wasting any time or effort in explaining myself. It was much easier to give him a ride to a store where he could pick out some mobile. And that’s what I did.

The D-Pad / Navigation Pad or whatever you want to call it – is pretty much unusable, for me. The phone does support handwriting recognition, but interestingly enough, there is no place on the phone to hold the stylus.

So what do you do with the stylus? Well, you dangle the damn thing from where one usually hooks up the wrist strap!!

Stupid, I know.

The cell-phone – not happening. Not for me anyways and thankfully I am not the one who has to use it. The keyboard feels rather cheap, under my thumbs. I liked the keyboard on the E75 better. But that crappy model has it’s own problems (pathetic battery life and ugly looks, to name a few).

Calling all Mac + BlackBerry users... your big day is has come! Sent in by our friend TimBukTwo, BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Mac users has leaked its way onto the interwebs for all to download. This is version 1.0.0 beta software, which means there may be some glitches still

Friday, September 4, 2009

It’s not bad. Good time pass. Some of the scenes are done really well. The CG at times are excellent, but in some scenes are too obvious. Wonder what caused the inconsistency.

I can’t tolerate Emily Watson. Wish they would have cast someone else for that role.

Not really sure if this is for all kids. Parents of sensitive kids (or rather, sensitive parents) – might not want their children to watch this.

I am sure they can take the war scenes, explosions etc a hell lot better than you think. Given that some of them have to put up with a nagging/fussing/over-dramatic couple for parents.

For the ones who don’t over-react and are not as hysterical (I am talking more about the parents, kids are smart enough, it’s the parents who need to a kick of common sense) – well the kids should be fine with the movie.

Not saying they will definitely like it, but they will most definitely not be complaining to you about how bad they felt when they saw a cannon firing at the big ugly sea monster or bla bla bla.

Sorry about that. Was just talking to a friend, who happens to have a mother who should have been in some sad play (and stayed there, if you ask me). Bloody tragedy/drama queen. And at the end of the day ‘We have the child’s best interest at heart’….. yeah right. She would have to be a super blonde, even to believe that herself.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

There was the motorised toothbrush, and I am very thankful for that. Electric shavers are great, a vibrating Gillette razor, err - I am not entirely convinced that it helps in getting a closer shave, but I don't really have a problem with it.

Resistive touch screen. Hmm pretty sure a lot of people would be happy about that. Heard people complain almost forever about touch screen phones. How they are ‘accidentally’ hitting buttons, terminating calls, initiating calls etc etc. because the phone has a touch screen. My answer to that was – If you don’t know how to use a touch screen phone – don’t buy one.

SE’s answer is – resistive touch screen. I don’t like the idea much, but hey - that’s just me.

WM 6.5 - hmm too much noise, don’t see anything great about it (yet). Lets just say SE didn’t do anything great with it in the X2. Probably someone else will make WM 6.5 worth my attention.

I really liked the keyboard on the X1. Feel the same way about X2’s keyboard as well. Love the finish. But.. errr.. X1 was a major disappointment and X2 doesn’t seem to be any different.